NEWS

Maya speaker to compare ancient civilizations

Oct 22, 2009 | General News

A comparison of ancient Mayan and Egyptian civilizations will be the topic as The Maya and the World lecture series continues, presented by Louisiana Tech University and the Lincoln Parish Library.

Historian and archaeologist Monica Bontty is scheduled to make two public presentations, both on Thursday, Oct. 29.

“The Notion of Time in Egyptian and Mayan Society” will take place at 10 a.m. in Wyly Tower Auditorium on Tech’s campus, and “Years Mayan and Hours: The Concept of Time in Ancient Maya and Egyptian Societies” will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish Library.

Admission is free and the public is welcome.

As an internationally recognized Egyptologist, Monica Bontty will examine popular mythologies in the light of actual research findings.

According to some popular media, ancient peoples like the Maya and the Egyptians were descendants of extraterrestrials or inhabitants of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis, Bontty said.

“Many people believe that the ancients possessed secret knowledge that enabled them to predict the future. In fact, some so-called ‘authorities’ claim that the Mayan calendar calls for the world to end in the year 2012,” she said. “In fact, ancient Egyptian and Mayan calendars, concepts of time and language, and other evidence fail to support outlandish predictions of gloom and doom.”

Bontty received her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of California at Los Angeles. In addition to UCLA, she has taught at Utah State University, Loyola Marymount University, Fullerton College and California State University at Fullerton. Bontty serves as assistant professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Bontty has assisted in numerous archaeological excavations in Egypt. Results of her research in the field have appeared in scholarly journals in the United States and Europe.

The final speaker in “The Maya and the World” series will be geographer W. George Lovell, who will talk on Nov. 5 at the Lincoln Parish Library and on Nov. 6 at Tech.

A complete schedule of events is available on the World Wide Web by clicking HERE.

“The Maya and the World” is sponsored by Louisiana Tech University and the Lincoln Parish Library, with major funding from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund and additional funding from the College of Liberal Arts, the department of history, the department of social sciences and the School of Literature and Language. Event support is provided by the student members of Phi Alpha Theta history honor society and Sigma Delta Pi, the national collegiate Hispanic honor society.

Written by Judith Roberts